Jamie Bosmans, a barista at Tosta Caffe in Freighthouse Square, said Monday that the storm has been a mixed blessing.

Inclement weather has many people commuting to points north by train instead of battling Interstate 5.

"I've worked her for about a month, and I've seen more business from the snow than I have except for when we have concerts" at the Dome, Bosmans said.

But the weather is forcing business at the square to close down early. "So I'm actually getting less hours," she said.

Bosmans said all her customers are talking about is that it's impossible to drive. But she's had no trouble getting to work, she said.

"It's pretty flat and you just have to be cautious of other drivers and go slow," Bosmans said. "It's just cold."

More from Rob Carson:

Areall Rians, manager of the Pink Coconut tanning salon on Puyallup’s South Hill, says the snow has sharply reduced her business.

“Basically, we have to keep opening late and closing early, so we don’t get very many people,” Rians said Monday afternoon.

Normally this time of year, Rians said, 80 to 90 people cycle through the Pink Coconut’s tanning beds every day.

“We’re down quite a bit, probably at least 30 or 40 a day,” she said. “The first day it snowed was the worst. Now, the last couple of days, it’s improved.”

Fewer people are in the salon, Rians said, but the same things are on their minds. “Everybody’s just talking about how they don’t like to drive in the snow and how they’re worried they won’t get their Christmas shopping done.”

Rob Carson is still snowed in at home but he sends this along:

Rachel Moreshead, the owner of Black Water Cafe (747 S. Fawcett), lives close enough to her shop so she can walk to work. She put on an extra pair of socks Monday morning, shoveled out pathways to Black Water’s door and opened as usual.

“I think a lot of people are really happy we’re open because a lot of other coffee shops have closed down,” Moreshead said.

The number of people coming in has stayed about the same, she said, but a lot of them have been people out for walks instead of the usual business crowd.

“A lot of people are staying home from work,” she said. “It’s like our Saturdays and Sundays all week long.

“People are really excited about the snow,” Moreshead said. “Today we had three people who cross-country skied here.”

It's not just fenders getting bent. One Washington insurance company is beginning to see the claims come in.

Jon Osterberg, spokesman for Pemco, said this morning: "As of Friday, it took a little while for the claims calls to come in, but we did see a slight increase. It wasn’t a significant increase. The latest figures have auto claims up 14 percent to 15 percent."

Typically, he said, people delay submitting minor claims in weather such as this.

"The one thing that was interesting, we were also seeing a comparable increase in homeowner claims. It looks like 40 percent to 60 percent are due to burst pipes. What was just starting to come in - those people in Spokane are having a heck of a time."

Along with auto claims and claims for burst pipes or collapsed carport roofs at home, Osterberg said he expects to start hearing from people with second homes.

"Sometimes, people who have second homes, or vacation homes, these people won’t know until they try to turn on the water for the first time. It's not until people get to those homes that they know."

This is typically a slow week at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center, so there weren't too many scheduled events that the weather could disrupt.

However, executive director David Bobo reported today: "We had a group that’s been using us for Sunday night worship services, they were in last night. We did have a Christmas party Saturday night that we rescheduled for January. Friday night we did have an event, but the people saw a huge falloff in attendance. The one Saturday night, we worked hard to get them moved."

There is a wedding reception on the slate for this coming Saturday, and Bobo said the center is ready to accommodate visitors.

"If you can get here, we’ll be here."

At the Les Schwab Tire Center at 5131 6th Ave. in Tacoma, a helpful employee tried Monday morning to get the manager on the phone to discuss how busy his shop is because of the weather.

The employee reports back: "We're just too busy to talk about how busy we are."

As the winter storm rolls on, Star Ice and Fuel is ready.

"Fuel is our business, and we take it pretty seriously," said Richard Reisinger, manager of the store at 405 S. Tacoma Way. "Whenever there's power outages ... the fuels we sell are the fuels that you can use when the power's not working."

Reisinger said Monday that customers swamped the shop all weekend, coming from miles around because they couldn't buy the things they needed closer to home.

"Seems like we had half the town in here on Saturday," he said. Top sellers: Propane, kerosene, Presto Logs and wood pellets.

Star has a 1,000-gallon propane storage tank – much larger than those you find at a corner gas station. They sell 40-pound bags of wood pellets, too. Presto Logs burn longer and hotter than regular firewood.

"We didn't run out of anything," Reisinger said. "We have a big warehouse here, and still have plenty of everything in stock. ... We don't wait until we run out to order something."